


Rainbow: Growing up Gay in Georgia

by LaBelleIzzy



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Bruises, Bullying, Childhood Trauma, Gen, Injury Recovery, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 14:43:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18251936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaBelleIzzy/pseuds/LaBelleIzzy
Summary: The rainbow may be beautiful, but Dicky isn't fond of all of the colors on their own.Eric Bittle's childhood wasn't idyllic.





	Rainbow: Growing up Gay in Georgia

Red: the color of the sun through eyes squeezed tightly shut… tiny child experimenting with the sun on his face. Older child trapped by his school peers in the closet as they play with the lightswitch outside the closet to show more of their power over him. Red is also the bright impotent fury of being randomly slammed into lockers as you walk through the school hallways. 

Orange: the glow of coals on the campfire late at night next to the lake. Smell of caramelized marshmallows and melty chocolate on graham crackers. Orange is the bright bottle of sunscreen, the smell and texture on your skin. Orange is also the color of the gross pile of eaten apple cores that were the first unpleasant surprise in your locker.

Yellow: the lemon meringue pie Mama makes every fourth of July is your favorite shade of yellow. Your hair is bright yellow every September when school starts after you’ve been playing out in the sun all day every day. Yellow is also the puddle in the bottom of your gym locker where someone has soaked your gym shorts in urine. And that dark yellow is the color of feeling ashamed and humiliated.

Green: the deep forests near your house, where you ramble for miles as a kid, playing with your cousins and neighbors, having adventures and swimming in the creeks. Green is also the grass stains on your favorite shirt after three football players have tackled you when you were walking home on the Friday before a game day.

Blue is the summer sky as wide as anything, as clear as the pond down where the beavers build their dam every summer. Blue is Eric’s favorite color. Blue reminds him of nothing those assholes have done to him for the last two years.

Purple is the color of the sunset just as the sun disappears behind the mountains on a cloudy day. Purple is the color of the bruises on his cheeks, his knees, his hip, and one time on his ribs when Tommy punched him hard under cover of the other football players scrimmaging during P. E. class. 

Purple is Eric’s least favorite color, but he still loves sunsets. Sunsets at least don’t turn yellow and green while they’re fading, don’t remind him of how small and powerless he is.

**Author's Note:**

> Found this in my Check, Please WIP file. Just tossing this up as my 2^5th work posted on AO3!
> 
> *** If you are inclined to comment, I would like to know what feelings this piece provoked. Thank you!
> 
> I have a link to add here later, a credit to the fic that gave me the idea.


End file.
